The Maryland Science Center is working with formal education providers in local underserved schools around a combined project including an interactive exhibit, a Davis Planetarium program and associated Educator Workshops, and will provide outreach...(View More) to the informal science education community to explore the subject of Astrobiology. Topics covered in both the exhibit and the Davis Planetarium program will include Earthly extremophiles (organisms that survive in extreme conditions), potential other life in the Solar System, locations on nearby worlds where life may exist, the search for exoplanets, the techniques used to discover them, and the NASA missions engaged in the hunt. With an engaging, interactive approach, the exhibit will detail the challenges, questions and techniques of the search for exoplanets, especially Earth-like worlds. The exhibit will help visitors understand the scale of both the Milky Way galaxy and the Universe, and by doing so comprehend the difficulty in searching for other worlds, especially smaller Earth-like worlds.(View Less)

This planetarium show is designed to engage visitors directly in activities and demonstrations, and is optimized for group sizes of 25 to 70 people. Show content includes general planet-finding techniques (Doppler, astrometric, etc.), an audience...(View More) activity about the transit method of extrasolar planet discovery, NASA Kepler mission, and Johannes Kepler's work. It is 50-minutes long, but modular, so that it can be adjusted for shorter lengths (suggestions for 30-minute and 40-minute versions are provided in the script). The script, images, movies and music are available for free download at the website provided.(View Less)